Artifact 1: Networked Learning Project
Course: CEP 810
Date: Summer 2016
Goal: 2
Standard: 4
This Networked Learning Project is a series of three blog posts that document my path of learning a new skill for my teaching practice only through networked learning. It is common practice in my school to launch a project to students with an entry event to inform and excite them for the project. Usually, this is in the form of a letter, demonstration or video that the teacher created. I had been leaning on the letter and demonstration types for my first two years of teaching because I did not know how to use Final Cut Pro or even iMovie for that matter. Students would talk about entry videos from other classes and grew increasingly bored with documents to read as an entry event. This project was a perfect opportunity for me to overcome my fear of video editing software and learn a new skill to improve my practice (Standard 4).
At the end of the five-week learning experience, I created my very first video entry event for my students. Since then, almost a year later, I have created at least five more videos to launch projects with my students and made some progress at learning Final Cut Pro, the more complex of the two. My students tend to be very visual and auditory learners. When I launched project after project with a letter, design brief or other forms of written entry events I was not attending as well to their needs as I could have (Standard 4). With these videos, I have seen excitement and intrigue increase when I launch a project to students. We have had richer conversations about their anticipated learning and more creative student end products (Goal 2). Working at a project-based learning STEM school, these technology skills were a must that I was lacking and a goal I had been putting off for some time. Not only was I able to learn a new skill for my classroom (Goal 2) but I was able to practice another way to learn future skills through networked learning.
(August 7, 2016) Here we are on week five of this Networked Learning Challenge that I was given and I’m proud of the progress I made. You can see the challenge and my progress through my previous two posts . Now I have successfully created an entry event for a project I will use next year with iMovie! I’ve made a video, in iMovie of course, to highlight my progress through the challenge. I learned how to upload pictures and video, edit them, add sound and text, add transitions and even themes. This summary video may even highlight some of the skills I learned better than my entry event video! Take a look at my journey here: https://youtu.be/ZFztyWle1Gg
Here is the full entry event I created for my class this year. Only a portion was highlighted in the video above. It will be used to launch a dartboard project in a mathematics class: https://youtu.be/RZSY2S9wGXU
Using iMovie has been on my to-do list for almost three years now. I’m very happy that I have started to tackle this production tool and hope to continue improving my skills this year as I create more videos for my class. Part of this challenge was to learn this new skill only using YouTube and Help forums. As highlighted in the video my main source was a YouTube tutorial video titled iMovie Tutorial for iPad iOS 9 2016. I had to do a couple of searches before landing on something useful for the version of iMovie I have to work with, but ultimately it was a very useful video. The hardest part of the challenge for me was not asking others around me and only using the Internet. I know a lot of people who already use iMovie but I had to refrain from reaching out to them to complete the task. After that hurdle, I really enjoyed learning a new task this way. It was not as time-consuming as I thought it was going to be, which is great as a teacher!
In teaching, I often use networked learning to come up with and create new project ideas. The mix of in-person and online learning helps to create relevant and authentic projects. I plan to continue to learn in this way and will not be timid when trying to learn something new, like iMovie. It may be less complicated to figure out than I anticipate and there are probably some excellent resources on the web already for me to use.
When I think about my students, I know they are already using this idea of networked learning. I see it on their iPads when they are trying to beat the next level of a game or when they are trying to figure out how to do their hair for prom. I see it on Facebook when they repost cooking videos or the next trick for Pokemon Go. I have even required it when I ask them to do secondary research when we start projects. The next step is to help them realize some of the same sources they start to gather information for their hobbies from can be useful places to start for their academic studies. The same set of skills can transfer if they know how to correctly search for what they are looking for and sort out uncreditable and creditable sources.
As a new school year is about to start I am excited to use iMovie in the classroom and to encourage networked learning with my students.
References
Klein, C. (2015, December 23). iMovie Tutorial for iPad IOS 9 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016, from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SFaUqwKAr2g
Artifact 2: Knowles Teacher Initiative
Competitive 5-year teaching fellowship for new teachers
Date: Spring 2014 – Current
Goal: 3
Standard: 1, 2, 6
Notable Works:
Kaleidoscope Journal Article: #Teach180 A Window Into Our Classrooms
Podcast: Now On Teacher Voice: #Teach180
In the spring of 2014, I was one of thirty-five new STEM teachers nationwide awarded a five-year teaching fellowship through the Knowles Teacher Initiative (Standard 6), previously Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. Founded by Harry Knowles, inventor of the barcode and passionate education advocate, “to improve science and mathematics education by developing talented, early-career teachers into teacher leaders.” The fellowship is broken into three phases that build onto each other. Phase one focuses on strengthing fellows content knowledge for teaching (Standard 2). Phase two develops fellows into systematic practitioners of classroom inquiry (Standard 1) and begins to build the capacity for leadership by bringing school colleagues into their work. The final phase moves the focus of inquiry to the community as fellows understand their school as a system and experiment with ways to yield positive change (Goal 3). Fellows meet in person three times a year for continued professional learning. Between meetings, we interact virtually and collect data to inform our inquiry.
Early on in my Knowles experience I became very invested and involved in the work we did. I have served on the Book Committee for the last four years, one year as a co-chair (Standard 6). This committee is in charge of deciding on a book for the entire organization to read and discuss for our annual summer meeting as well as arranging a speaker to address the organization. I have also participated in the Review Committee for the last three years. The review committee reviews proposals for research posters and presentations fellows present at the annual summer meeting. I have presented on project-based learning, student grouping strategies, and student voice in my own sessions over the course of the last three years (Goal 3). A team of fellows and I have written for their journal, Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives, and helped to pilot their podcast (Goal 3). I have also, written grants for classroom materials and professional learning opportunities outside of the organization funded through Knowles for the last four years.
I am very grateful for the opportunities this program has afforded me. I owe much of who I am as a teacher and developing leader to them. After student teaching, I was looking to continue to have a similar support network that my undergraduate and internship year at Michigan State had provided. After being chosen as a 2014 cohort member, I found that through Knowles. They inspire me to do so much in my classroom and played a huge role in my drive to pursue this masters work. As I continue to the last phase of the fellowship this year I am excited for the work that phase three brings as well as the positive change that it will drive in my community.
Artifact 3: Assignment 4E: Moving Towards Action
Course: EAD 801
Date: Spring 2017
Goal: 1
Standard: 1, 3
During EAD 801, we looked at our schools as organizations and identified an area for growth within the system. I identified the achievement gap between students who are identified as English language learners or come from low socioeconomic families and any other demographic in our population (Standard 1). This gap was identified by evaluating test scores, homework completion and overall class success. I identified technical and adaptive elements surrounding this challenge then provide a suggested seven-step outline to take action in closing the gap (Standard 3).
This artifact was constructed early in my learning of educational leadership during this program. The plan is an open-ended outline showing the progression the organization as a whole will have to go through in order to create lasting change (Goal 2). It was here in the program where I began to look at my school as an organizational body and identify larger scale issues beyond my classroom (Goal 3). Reaching outside of my classroom to look at organizational challenges and developing an outline for change provided me with another way to look at problems of practice. Not all issues occurring within a classroom can be solved within a classroom. At times we need to look at how we are situated in the greater organization and identify sources of the challenge. Rather than pass the blame and burden to someone else, we need to be advocates for our students and have the courage to lean into the challenge. Not everything is in our control but until we take the time to look at the system and identify key elements lasting change will not occur.
Artifact 4: Professional Learning Budget Plan
Course: EAD 824
Date: Summer 2017
Goal: 1
Standard: 3, 5
In Artifact 5, I share a plan for professional learning that I developed during EAD 824 and am now implementing at my campus. This budget plan is meant to accompany that plan to support teachers learning and ground them in best practices according to current educational literature and research (Standard 5). Some texts were chosen to provide frameworks for the learning and structure to follow while engaging as a staff (Standard 3) while others were chosen to support very specific areas of growth in the classroom and will be used to bring new information into the inquiry breakout groups.
Often, as learners, we do not know what we do not know. Meaning that we have all the best intentions of implementing practices to support student growth but there may be better practices out there that we do not yet know we should be implementing. Incorporating these sources of information into the cycles of inquiry (Goal 1) will allow our staff to grow as critical consumers of information. The inquiry plan allows for a safe, growth-oriented space to try new techniques from the literature and reflect on the affects on student engagement and learning.
Artifact 5: Year-Long Plan for Professional Learning
Course: EAD 824
Date: Summer 2017
Goal: 1, 3
Standard: 4, 5, 6
This artifact outlines a year-long plan for professional learning that I developed to support my school’s progress towards aligning reality with our vision. Grounded in the courses literature, staff will participate in best practices of professional learning where they will engage in focus groups, inquiry groups and use protocols to drive discussion (Standard 5). After revisiting our staff norms and identifying key areas of inquiry from student data (Artifact 9), the staff would engage in five cycles of data collection, analysis, and conclusion making in smaller inquiry groups (Goal 1). There are opportunities for the smaller inquiry groups to share to the staff so we can all benefit from the best practices happening and create school-wide improvement of our teaching practice to support stronger culture and increased student achievement (Standard 4). The design of the plan is meant to be ongoing and adaptable. It allows us to tackle a variety of different issues and is adaptable when new areas of improvement surface.
At the conclusion of this course, I brought this plan to my administrator and asked if this would be something the staff would be interested in for our professional learning through the year (Standard 6). I did not expect that my plan to actually be implemented. They were very excited about the proposal and allowed me to try it with staff this year (Goal 3). It is my hope that as the cycles of teacher-led inquiry will serve as a strong foundation for our growth. As the school grows so will the importance of teacher leaders on our campus and I believe this plan allows for those opportunities.
Artifact 6: Technology to Support Student Learning
Course: CEP 810
Date: Summer 2016
Goal: 2
Standard: 2, 4
In this task from CEP 810, we were asked to use technology to enhance a lesson. The old lesson was one I had developed for function families in during my student teaching that had allowed some inquiry to take place rather than being told all of the function transformations. In an environment with relatively low technology access, this lesson was a major improvement on what had traditionally been done. However, since then I have been in an environment with one-to-one technology. It was time to update this lesson again to better meet my student’s needs (Goal 2).
I chose to integrate Desmos Activity Builder and Mentimeter into the lesson, two tools I had been meaning to learn more about and integrate into my teaching. With the Desmos Activity Builder, students were able to create and move graphs around the coordinate plane themselves to discover how the transformations occurred. I could track their progress on my screen and offer support when they needed it. Mentimeter allowed me to formatively assess how they were internalizing the concepts and transferring them back to formal mathematics language (Standard 2). Desmos drove inquiry through the lesson while Mentimeter allowed me to collect quick informative data to gauge their progress.
Both of these tools, especially Desmos Activity Builder, are now two of my go-to technology tools in my classroom. After seeing the engagement from the students and ease of use on the website I knew Desmos Activity Builder would become a valuable tool to refine other lessons with as well. Students can be self-paced and I can better monitor the class progress to more efficiently support struggling students while allowing others to continue progressing through the content (Standard 4). In four years this task has gone under two huge renovations to meet the needs of my students. It is important to remind myself that each group of students are unique, a successful lesson for one group may not be for another. It is important to take the time to reflect and refine to support the growth in my students but also in myself as a young professional (Standard 4).
(August 7, 2016) This week I dove into exploring technologies that support student learning and engagement inside the classroom. In Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom (2011), Renee Hobbs claims there are five communication compentencies central to learning across all subject areas (p. 12). Access to relevant material, the ability to analyze critically, focused creation, thoughtful reflection, and actively sharing their knowledge. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (2011) suggest that this culture of learning “thrives on change” (p. 37) which is true even in my short teaching experience. I began to think about previous lessons and how students engaged in these five competencies. I found a lesson that fell short in many areas so I began to search for ways to bring it to the 21st century.
“Digital media provides access to a rich source of information and play,”(p. 37-38) according to Thomas and Brown so I started by looking at the Top 100 Tools for Learning. I was happy to see that I had used many of these tools before. Then I came across Desmos Activity Builder and Mentimeter. Both I had heard about before but have not purposefully implemented with students yet. So I adapted an only less tech-savvy lesson of mine to step up to the 21st century technology enabled world with these tools.
This is an Algebra 2 lesson introducing absolute value functions. In Texas we use Texas Educational Knowledge Standards (TEKS) instead of CCSS. The content standards the lesson covers are:
AII.6.C The student is expected to analyze the effect on the graphs of f(x) = |x| when f(x) is replaced by af(x), f(bx), f(x-c), and f(x) + d for specific positive and negative real values of a, b, c, and d
AII.6.D The student is expected to formulate absolute value linear equations
Desmos Activity Builder is a great tool to enhance student engagement and learning into this content because of how interactive it is. Students will be able to use sliders in the activity to move the function and explore how key features displace the function from its parent form. All of the students will have access to an iPad to complete the activity on and a notebook to record answers. Desmos is a perfect tool for students to analyze functions and form conclusions based on their exploration. During class discussion student will be able to reflect on the experience and create their own functions. I am going to use Mentimeter, a collaborative poll/quiz tool, to give me quick formative feedback on my students. This will allow students to answer honestly and quickly so I know if we need to review a concept before continuing on to harder student created examples. I invite you to check out the before and after of this now tech-savvy lesson:
Old lesson worksheet: Here
Plan for the technology enriched lesson: Here
References
Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky: CreateSpace?.
Artifact 7: Action Research: Student Engagement and Learning Through Open-Ended Projects
Course: TE 808
Date: Summer 2016
Goal: 1
Standard: 3, 4
This artifact outlines action research I had conducted within my classroom while I had taught AP Calculus in a project-based environment. During that year I had been experimenting with giving student choice in my projects and its effect on learning and engagement. Students who have experienced project-based learning for almost four years in every class they take become masters of the process and are ready for more ownership and voice in the project. I felt very confident letting this group of seniors experience a very open-ended project but was curious as to what project elements supported or hindered learning and engagement for my future implementation of these practices with other audiences (Standard 3).
The questions to drive my inquiry were, “What features of open-ended projects support student engagement and learning? What features of open-ended projects are not as productive?” Throughout the project, I collected data in for form of google forms and a recording of the class. The sources of data were analyzed by using a sorting method to begin to see patterns followed by a coding method to identify trends (Standard 4). I was able to conclude that project scaffolds like benchmark checks and project planning documents led to strong engagement and learning while rubric creation and timing needed revisions if I were to implement a similar project in the future (Goal 1).
It is very easy to get lost in the day to day stress of teaching and completely skip over time to reflect on the effectiveness of your lesson implementation. Engaging in this form of action research in the classroom helps to ground me in reflection and to focus on improvement (Goal 1). A quick student survey or video of the class will yield informative data without being too much of a burden on class time. It is important that as teaching years increase that our practice evolves to ensure that the opportunities we craft for our students are meaningful and accessible to them (Standard 4).
Artifact 8: Professional Presentations: NCTM Annual to Knowles Summer Meeting
National/Global Conference Presentations:
New Technology Annual Conference
Project Groups: Group Resumes
SLIDES: Student Voice and Choice: Logistics of Running Concurrent Projects
Advanced Reasoning in Education’s Think Global Academies 2016 – 2017
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference 2017
Knowles Teacher Initiative Summer Meeting 2015 – 2017
Date: Spring 2017, Summer 2017
Goal: 3
Standard: 2, 6
After my first year of teaching, I was asked to return to Michigan State and share some messages back to the current student teachers at their graduation. I stood in front of the audience shaking with nerves. Public speaking was almost the worst thing anyone could make me do. Little did I know that within the next four years I would be speaking at national conferences and global trainings about teaching. The next time I would speak in front of an audience of over one hundred adults would be the summer of 2016 in Shenzhen, China to a group learning project-based learning.
Through the Think Global Project-Based Learning trainings I have been able to present across the United States, China, and Australia. As a member of the New Technology Network, a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics member and a Knowles Fellow I have been able to grow my professional learning network outside of my school context (Standard 6). I have collaborated with colleagues on some of these presentations and recently began also presenting on my own to share some practices that are effective in my classroom and school (Goal 3). In order to be able to speak about a topic and be convincing, you need to have internalized it. Giving these presentations has helped to ground me in best teaching practices. It’s a strong reminder of the critical elements that go into planning a successful project for students. It also provides me another learning opportunity with each audience. I always gain new project ideas or hear about another technique to try in my own classroom (Standard 2).
Looking back at that first speech to the soon-to-be teachers, I cannot believe the strides I have made in public speaking and in my teaching career. I am still growing as a member of these professional organizations but the wealth of support and knowledge they have given me only empowers me to become more involved and to contribute more to the organization. They refresh and relax me so that when I return to my classroom, I am present and attentive to my students’ needs.
Artifact 9: Student Work: 8th Grade Reflections to inform Algebra 1 Planning
In-depth student reflections used to drive personal inquiry and curriculum design.
Goal: 1, 2
Standard: 1, 2
Developed from a reflection experience I engaged in through the Knowles Teacher Initiative, these are two examples students work completing an end of the year reflection over their first year at a project-based learning school. All student samples were later used as a base set of information that drove the school growth plan I developed during TE824 for the staff professional learning as well as an entry point for the inquiry work I participate in through Knowles (Goal 1).
Eighth-grade students reflected on growth mindset, norms, group contracts, class PBL projects, the process of project-based learning and an open reflection. Throughout the year I worked with these students to foster a mathematical growth mindset to develop confidence, perseverance, and open-mindedness to math. I used actionable norms (communicate productively, take risks, work persistently) with some of the classes and was curious about how eighth graders had internalized them and if they seemed to build the class culture. I implemented group contracts more strictly than I had in previous years and I was curious to see if the student perception of that implementation aligned with my goal of implementing them in a new way. I wanted feedback on the perception of projects, where did they feel learning occurred and which projects did they most enjoy. As well as the process of project-based learning itself, how transparent about each part of the process was I being and where did I need to improve with these students last year. Finally, I left a section for them to be more open and personal in their reflection. I had seen so much growth in them but wondered what they saw in themselves. These surveys gave me so much information about my students (Standard 1) and my implementation of the curriculum (Standard 2).
These surveys were given at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Themes were collected from them and shared with the full staff since in our inaugural year of the school this class of eighth graders was our largest class and over half of the student body. We noted successes and areas of growth to move the school closer to our vision. After being placed in charge of the staffs professional learning this year, I implemented a plan I developed during TE824, where teachers divide into inquiry teams to focus on one of our areas of growth (Goal 1). Teachers will complete five cycles of data collection and analysis on changes they are implementing in their classrooms to move us closer to our vision. We will share out best practices and assess students progress throughout the year. I recently received the New Technology Network Teacher Action Research Grant for this process and will be gathering additional data to assess the effectiveness of this process on the entire school (Goal 1).
In my classroom, I am using the data as I teach these students as ninth-graders now. I used their feedback in setting up the course for this year (Standard 2). In some of the data, I still saw differences in student perceived access and opportunities to learn (Standard 1). Over the summer I attended a week long workshop on complex instruction and am implementing techniques this year to elevate students status in the classroom (Goal 2). I am collecting data and analyzing it to look for shifts in status and access to learning then shifting my practice to better support my students (Goal 1, Goal 2). I am working towards a truly collaborative, safe, and supportive environment for students to learn in my classroom. I feel these reflections gave me very useful data that has led to change within my classroom. I look forward to giving a similar reflection this year and comparing their growth after yet another year.
Artifact 10: Final Summative Assignment
Course: TE 872
Date: Fall 2017
Goal: 2
Standard: 5
This culminating assignment for TE 872 asked us to reflect on four areas a teaching and our graduate experience. The assignment asked us to use not only the readings from the current class but to reflect on the literature across all of the courses in the program to elaborate on four prompts.
By nature of our education system, students learn content in silos even though the world we live in asks us to use many of those silos at the same time. Critical consumers of information can bridge this gap but it is a skill that takes time to develop. I see my students struggle with this skill. They will learn how to calculate the slope of a line with much success in math class and then on the same day need to calculate the speed of a distance-time graph in science and be completely lost. They are struggling to see the connection between subject matter causing them fail to access information that could be helpful. Noticing this issue a colleague and I developed a project to specifically target this issue and develop students to be more information-literate. The cross-curricular project pointed out the connections between math and science and helped to break down the silos in their mind. Weaving math and science content allowed them to successfully build designs for roller coasters (Goal 2).
This assignment models an experience of my own critically consuming information and weaving literature across courses to enhance my understanding and better support my point of view (Standard 5). In reflecting on this assignment, I know that if these prompts were presented at the beginning of the program my responses would have been much different. In accessing learning from previous courses I was able to communicate in writing my current professional understanding while synthesizing for myself. As I continue to improve my skills of critically consuming many forms of information I will be able to better support my students in their journey to also become well-educated and information-literate (Goal 2).